By 10:45 a.m., when Michael Stone was released from the Maze, scores of journalists had gathered outside.
Dressed in a black shirt and jeans, he was greeted by supporters in the prison car park, and cheered by around 100 loyalists as he emerged from the turnstiles, with a black and gold Ulster Freedom Fighters flag being held aloft behind him.
The loyalist supporters had arrived an hour earlier in a convoy of cars to greet him. Many wore sunglasses even though it was a gloomy day.
Stone stood silently as Mr Frankie Gallagher, a member of the loyalist prisoners' group, Gae Lairn, read a short statement against the backdrop of the UFF flag. The UFF is a cover-name for the UDA.
Mr Gallagher said the peace process had the support of loyalist prisoners. He said he wanted Stone's release "to be seen as dignified".
The group took only one question, agreed beforehand, from a journalist. Afterwards, Stone was escorted to a waiting car which sped off.
Loyalists flanked the vehicle to prevent camera crews and photographers taking pictures. They also stopped any other car from following it through the gate.
Stone was immediately brought to east Belfast. He later had a drink, reportedly orange juice, in a bar. Afterwards, traffic on the Newtownards Road was stopped briefly as around 30 people applauded his arrival at the Gae Lairn prisoners' rehabilitation centre for his press conference.
Among the other high-profile prisoners who will be released later this week are the Shankill bomber, Sean Kelly, who killed nine people in an explosion in a fish shop in 1993, and Torrens Knight, a UDA prisoner convicted of killing seven people in the Greysteel pub attack a week later.